War of the Land
by Glitterboy
Summary: NOTE: this story was written equally be me & my friend corey. we wrote it *together*! 100 years after the warriors come to the lake the outsiders settle near thunderclan's land. they want to take thunderclan's land too. who will win the war of the land?
1. Chapter 1

Rifka awoke to find her stomach rumbling with hunger.

"I'll go hunting." She mumbled to herself with disinterest.

In no time, she had cornered a squirrel, and just as she was about to sink her teeth into it, it darted into ThunderClan land.

"Damn." she hissed.

She stood there for a moment, and then she saw a ThunderClan cat take out the squirrel with one quick blow.

"They're fast. I'll have to remember that…" Rifka noted.

The she-cat looked over to her with a friendly smile.

"Hi." The white warrior greeted her.

"You're very fast." Rifka complemented her.

The white warrior smiled:

"Not as fast as the WindClan cats." She said, and walked away with her squirrel.

_I didn't know the Clan cats were so friendly, _she pondered._ Perhaps they _aren'_t so hostile._

Rifka decided to patrol the border. It wasn't a set border, just what separated the land between the Outsiders and ThunderClan. It was then she realized that her and Sky's land was such a small area, for such a growing number of cats.

"Sky, I need to talk to you!" Rifka announced as she entered the Outsiders' camp. Shy, a large white tom, padded out from under Crystal Rock.

"What is it?" he inquired, for Rifka always had interesting things to say.

"It's about our land." She sounded concerned as she padded nearer to Sky.

"We are growing so large," she whispered to him," but we have such little land."

"That does seem to be a problem." Sky commented.

Tasha overheard their conversation and remarked,

"We'll just steal ThunderClan's land!"

rather loudly. Hidan padded up and noticed Tasha's crude comment.

"You're such an ass." he and Rifka said in unison. Tasha scowled at his comment.

"But for once, and ass has a good idea!" Rifka laughed.

"Asses don't have good ideas." Crescent growled rather rudely, suddenly appearing in the picture.

"Well this one just did!" Rifka returned.

As Sky listened to this conversation, he rolled his eyes. Did Rifka really think they should take over ThunderClan's land? Before he could think about it any further, he heard the familiar call:

"Defenders, Trainees, follow me!" from Rifka as she padded out of the camp with Tasha and Hidan close behind. Soon, Sky was right beside her, listening to her explain her thoughts, which she was always very honest in doing so.

"Sky, I went hunting this morning," she began, "because I was hungry. I chased a squirrel, but it ran over the ThunderClan border. That gave me the thought to patrol the border, which was when I realized how small the piece of land we own is.

Sky nodded, showing Rifka that he was listening.

"We can't expand any other way, for to the south and east, nofurs command the land. To the west is the Great Water, which is far too salty to drink. Our only option is death, or to expand to the north; to ThunderClan's land." Rifka concluded.

"Do you understand my reasoning?" she asked Sky for his consent and approval.

"Yes. We must expand, but not by violence. Perhaps we should try and talk to their leader. Maybe the leaders of the other three Clans as well." Sky suggested.

"Aaah…" Rifka was deep in thought. "That is what we shall present to our members."

With that, she leaped up into a gnarled old tree and commanded to the Defenders and Trainees: "Halt!"

The cats looked up to where the command came from and gave full attention to their leaders, for by this time Sky had joined Rifka on a high branch in the old tree.

"Cats of the Outsiders," he began, "I would like you all to run around our territory."

The cats looked up and gave meows of confusion.

"Now!" Sky commanded, and the cats took off running.

"Why the heck do you think Rifka and Sky are making us do this?" Elviria grunted to Blue as she sniffed the air and easily hopped over a branch that was in her path.

"It sounds pretty dumb to me." Blue retorted in his usual stubborn way.

"You're both wrong!" Tasha butt in, startling both Blue and Elviria.

"We di--" Blue cut himself short, as it was no use arguing with Tasha.

"Good choice." Elviria whispered to him, "But what does running around our territory have to do with anything?" she asked, a little louder, and directed towards Tasha.

"I guess just to see how small it is." Tasha replied.

Elviria and Blue realized they were about halfway around their territory by now.

"I'll let you two in on a secret," Tasha told the secretively, "we're going to take over ThunderClan's land!"

Tasha didn't do well with meowing quietly, and plenty of furry heads turned. They quickly turned back to their groups, and meowed eagerly about Tasha's notion.

Then, without a word, Tasha smiled slyly and padded away; probably to explain the ThunderClan-take-over to other cats that were now mewing about it.

"Wow…" was all Elviria could manage to say.

"Um…" was all that Blue could muster to get out of his mouth.

Finally, one of them said,

"Are you sure that this is a good idea? I know it's our leaders' idea, but I'm not so sure about this.

"I'm sure it'll make sense when Sky and Rifka explain it." Blue assured her, even though he didn't sound so convinced himself.

The two friends ran in silence for a while, staring at the luxurious territory they now had: tall pines, colorful flowers in every shade you could imagine, marshes and bogs (not the most beautiful part of their territory, but it was a good place to catch frogs), and the sandy beach that overlooked the Great Water. It was a beautiful place with soft sand, but the water was far too salty to drink.

"Look!" Blue was surprised, "We're already back at the tree!"

Elviria and Blue were the first to arrive back at the tree, and Blue half expected Rifka or Sky to say 'congratulations!', but they didn't. Instead, Sky leaped down from the tree, but Rifka remained perched on her branch.

"So," said Sky, casually, sounding intrigued, even though neither Blue nor Elviria had said anything, "Did you notice anything?"

"How beautiful our territory is!" Blue blurted out without thinking, as usual.

"And how small it is." Elviria added.

"Yes!" Sky complemented her, "Our territory is very small, and very beautiful." He added.

"Are we going to take over ThunderClan's land?" Blue inquired eagerly

Sky nodded his head slowly.

"How did you know that was the topic for our discussion?" He asked the Trainee.

"Tasha told us!" Blue answered.

"How did I know…?" Sky muttered. "Rifka, Tasha has told everybody about our plan, but I think that they all got the wrong idea about it!"

"Oh great Shadows…" Rifka swore.

Sky leaped back into the tree as the rest of the cats trickled in, conversing about the information that they gained from Tasha.

"Looks like they got the same information we did." Was all Elviria could say before Rifka and Sky started to speak.

"Cats, did you notice anything about our land?" Rifka questioned with authority.

"It's beautiful!" Kira announced.

"It's small!" Tasha shouted before anybody else could do it for her.

"Oh great Shadows…" Rifka swore under her breath again.

Sky looked at his "family" with concern. "Crescent before you say anything know, this is for the good of the outsiders. Think of Mona and your kits."

Crescent looked at the ground and let out a low growl of disapproval.

"Be a little more opened minded Crescent," Rifka said. "Our hunting land is small, If we don't get more some of us may have o starve. Of cores not the queens-" Crescent let out a sigh of relief glad that he would starve if anyone did before the queens and kits. "Probably the trainees first" Rifka said. Crescent stayed silent and continued to stare at the ground ambivalent.

"You don't want Cleo to starve do you?" Hidan said. "No of courss not."

"How will we steal it?" Tasha smirked.

Her brother Tip and a few others shot her a questioning glare. "We will invade them," Rifka said solemnly. "We will determine when is best then attack."

"Do we kill?" Tasha said her smirk wider than before.

"If necessary, but only then." Rifka said.

Crescent growled deeply, now facing the leaders. "No we can't."

"What why?!" demanded Tasha obviously eager for a thrill.

"What one of us attacks someone protecting the queens and kits and eventually a queen or so joins the fight?" he hissed.

"Stupid- queens don't fight," Copper said.

"They do if it's to protect their kits. Then what?!," Crescent growled. Hidan looked stunned and nervous.

"Then you kill the queen-duuuuuuuuuuuh!" Tasha said condescendingly.

"Shut up ASS!" Hidan demanded her. "Shadows damn you! You don't kill a queen! And like hell yeah a queen can fight!" he glanced over empathetically at the queens, specifically Carmen. "Shit you ever tried to touch Blue Tasha?" Hidan glared.

"No."

"I'll bet I know why, you're afraid Sakura and Gara will beat the hell out of you."

Crescent couldn't help but laugh and neither could the queens. Sakura glanced respectfully at Hidan.

"Fine then, we'll only drive them out," Sky said.

"Tasha shouldn't go," Carmen mewed, "She will undoubtedly kill."

"Shut up you damn wretch!" Tasha hissed at Carmen.

"How dare you?!" Hidan and Mona said in unison.

"You damn hell of an ass!" Hidan added, "You don't shut up and I'll rip you apart and feed you to a lion!"

"Hidan you meanie!" squeaked Willow. "Willow get back in the den!" Carmen instructed.

Only the kits weren't standing before the leaders to take part in the discussion.

"Once a moon the four clans have a gathering," Sky said." It's when most or at least half the cats per clan come together for a night of only peace. Then is our chance to survey the Thunder land and decide the best action for taking it."

"No," Crescent said still resistant. "What if the only choices are to kill or be killed?" he asked.

"Then kill" was the reply from Sky and Rifka. "What if we have to kill a queen?" Cleo said also resistant.

"Then kill."

No one was sure who said it but it was assumed to be either Rifka or Sky.

"Wont her kits die without her?!" Cleo said, taking after her oldest brother.

"Then kill them then too," said Sky gravely. Mona pressed her face into Crescent and wept, he wound his tail around hers. "We can't do that…." He managed to choke out. "We have to" Sky answered. "It's that or let them suffer."

"Dismissed all of you!" Rifka said quickly. "Hunt! Patrol! Just leave!" everyone did so.

…

Many nights later at the full moon Hidan, Copper, Sakura, Tide and Gara were exploring 'Thunder land' as Sky called it. They had covered their scent with muddy water.

"I just don't like it," Sakura said. "What if one or more of us has to kill a queen?" "And her kits" Hidan spat. "Damn couldn't this be easier? And those apprentice cats" he said. "Aren't they like Blue's age? "

This made Sakura and Gara wince which Hidan had been trying to make happen. "It's a friggin' bad idea. Damn Tasha! Shadows, damn her! If she got killed the inner shadow world wouldn't accept her."

"Sorry, they have to." This was Tide. "They have to let all outsiders in."

"DAMN! I don't want to see that bitch's damn ugly face when I die!"

"You want to see Carmen's" Tide teased. "Shut up dammit!"

"It's obvious you li-" "Shut the damned hell up!" "Okay, okay. Yeesh."

"They have a great land, so much bigger than ours" Copper observed. "But we've no right to take it" Hidan said, "Uh, I'm uh, quoting Crescent."

"And look, food." Copper pinned a squirrel and offered some to the others.

Hidan kicked Copper hard on his back ankles tripping him. "You shouldn't steal from them."

"This'll be ours anyway," Copper said. "Shut up. You look like a pathetic ass stealing from a small clan."

After hours of observation they returned home to report to Rifka and Sky.

"Uh Hidan let the others report," Rifka said. "So far all I know is that Tide teased you about Carmen, the apprentices are supposedly about Blue's age and Copper ate a squirrel."

"Oh yeah- and Copper looked like a pathetic ass stealing from a small clan."

"They're small?"

Hidan realized he'd said the wrong thing. Now there was no chance of this not happening.

"Uh well not that small I mean, uh…….I gotta go." He sped off without another word.

Tide rushed after Hidan, and Carmen poked her head out of the nursery to see what was up.

"Hidan!" Tide called after him. Hidan kept running. "C'moooooon! Hidaaaaaaan!"

Tide caught up but he couldn't stop. "Ohh," he moaned after crashing. Hidan however had easily side stepped and took no damage.

"Hey," Tide said once he'd gotten up. "Don't be so down, I mean maybe Thunder would give us some land and we-"

"You're crazy." Hidan spat. "You really think a clan about the size of us will just give us their land? Where are they gonna to go?" he whispered.

"Uh," Tide didn't have an answer to this.

Without warning Hidan sped back to the camp. "Sky! Rifka!" he yowled as he bowled into them.

"What?!" Rifka said. "Damn it! Where is ThunderClan gonna go?!" he demanded of his leaders.

"That is not our problem Hidan" Sky said emotionlessly.

"But they have queens and kits and families!" Hidan yelled being sure to catch the others attention. "And that land is all they know!"

"Would they let us have just a bit of their land maybe?" Mona said tears brimming from her face.

"We need it all," was Sky's answer. "If we take any we should take it all."

"B- but Sky," Mona pleaded, the tears now streaming from her eyes.

Hidan spat on the camp's ground. "The clan cats are the kind'a cats who don't leave something important without a fight, possibly to all of their deaths."

"Then we shall enialate them all," Sky said.

A gasp rose from the Outsiders. Once again they'd all gathered before their leaders.

"What about their elders? Do we kill all of them too?" Carmina said.

"If they don't leave willingly then we have to destroy them all." This was Sky.

"Wh-what if there are some kits too young to remember anything?" MoonBeam said.

Sky looked over to her. "Then if any of the queens will take them in we can raise them as Outsiders. Mona, MoonBeam, Carmen….would you?"

"YES!" was the immediate mew from them.

"Then we can keep them."

Rifka looked around, nervous, and trying to avoid more conflict.

"Uh, everyone dismissed!" she said quickly.

Elviria and Blue padded out. "Hey guys!" Hidan said dashing after them.

"What do you want Hidan"? Blue said. Hidan put on his best fake kindness act. "Well uh Blue, I wanted you to meet the neighbors. And uh, you too El."

EL?! Elviria wondered. What is he up to? "What's with the bad acting Hidan?" she mewed. "You're never friendly. Well except to Carmen."

She could see he was biting his tongue trying not to call her a "damn ass" or something.

"Uh, I want you to meet some of ThunderClan before you decide whether or not to help kill them."

Blue and Elviria weren't sure what to make of this, as Blue was about to respond something stopped him. "Can I come too?" Cleo asked from behind Hidan. He spun around startled.

"Wha? Uh sure kid."

"Um, maybe we could bring Crescent and Sakura too?" she said hopefully.

"Uh," Hidan said counting. "That's six of us. Wont it-"

"Pleeeease Hidan?" she piped.

"Uh, well" "Pleeeeeease?"

"Okay kid, but you have to convince them to come."

"Oh okay."

This wasn't going to be easy for Cleo. She was never much of a talker and always easy to win an argument against. However Crescent immediately agreed. And it didn't take long to convince Sakura with the help of Blue.

Hidan led them through their land and onto Thunder land. Soon they were spotted by a patrol.

One of the Thunder cats was pure black one was smaller than the others and grey and one was a ginger tom. Then the saw a golden ginger cat behind them who was about the size of the grey one. She ran at them only to trip over something unseen.

"Who are you?" the ginger tom said warily.

Hidan gulped. "Uh we're a few of the Outsiders, uh y'know the cats who live uh that way-" he motioned towards where they'd come from. "We uh, wanted to meet ThunderClan," Hidan said respectfully.

The black tom sped forward stopping right next to his ginger comrade.

"FrostPaw, TawnyPaw," he called in a velvety voice.

The grey cat shuffled towards them and his golden ginger friend followed close behind.

"I am NightPool" the black tom said. "This is SnakeScorch, FrostPaw and TawnyPaw," he motioned to the cat next to him, then the grey one then the golden ginger she-cat beside him.

"Who are you? What do you want?" NightPool said much less friendly than before.

"Uh" was what Hidan could manage. Crescent nudged him. "Oh were sorry to intrude," he said humbly.

"We six never got a chance to meet our neighbors, so we wanted to."

NightPool gave him a suspicious glare.

Crescent then took a moment to introduce himself and the other Outsiders.

"You're Blue's mother Sakura?" NightPool said suddenly.

She flushed slightly, and said,"Um yes. How--"

"They way you look at him caringly and the certain features you have that I see incorporated in him."

The black warrior glared at them.

"Now what?" Hidan said.

NightPool growled. "Do you think you're getting any further onto our land?" he said rather unfriendly.

"N-NightPool, you don't have to be so hostile, they seem like friends," TawnyPaw mewed.

Just then a white warrior ran up to them. "Hi guys!" she mewed in a very friendly manor. The black warrior rolled his eyes. "Hello SagePelt," he said warmly.

"Oh, hi!" The white cat mewed excitedly. She sniffed them, "You must be the Outsiders," she concluded, still beaming.

"This is SagePelt," NightPool said.

"She's uh," FrostPaw said, "a lot friendlier than some of us."

NightPool 'harrumphed' under his breath but said nothing for anyone to hear.

SagePelt grinned. "So why uh are you guys here?" she said still bubbly.

NightPool scoffed, "they wanted to meet the neighbors," he said.

"Well don't be hostile," she laughed.

"We aren't SagePelt," FrostPaw said. "NightPool is, SnakeScorch isn't helping and TawnyPaw is just plain shy."

"NightPool," SagePelt said.

He wasn't paying attention.

"Well this way Outsiders!" SagePelt grinned leading them towards the camp.

SagePelt ran like the wind, a kind happy bubbly wind. But she didn't always see where she was going.

Hidan saw her before anyone else, "Oh no! SagePelt look-" he yelled too late.

There was a mess of tangled fur after the crash. Next to SagePelt stood a beautiful grey she-cat with brown stripes and stunning green eyes.

"Who are they SagePelt?!" the beautiful cat hissed.

"Uh the Outsiders," SagePelt said. "They're friends. Uh guys- this is-"

"Rachel," the grey and brown cat hissed.

Blue tensed and arched his back. Rachel looked at him, then without a warning- launched.

She had bowled Blue over in an instant, Sakura was quickly behind. Blue couldn't move; he hurt too much. "How dare you?!" sakura howled, Rachel kicked her hard in the stomach sending her flying.

"HEY!" Hidan spat and launched at her. He too was sent flying [though not as gracefully as Sakura had.] and crashed into a tree. Rachel dashed at a hurt Sakura stabbing thrusting her razor sharp claws into a side. But it wasn't Sakura's.

Crescent stood bleeding from his left side. "You alright?" he managed to say. "Rachel, please," he begged whatever we did we are truly sorry, but please stop. The Outsiders are willing to stop fight--"

Rachel didn't let him finish, another set of razor sharp claws flew into the air, and into Hidan. Rachel knocked him down swiftly and yanked her claws out of Crescent. "Alright," she said, she let Crescent lean on her and ask: "Why did you attack Blue?"

"He looked threatened and ready to spring at any moment."

"You have a hostile air about you."

"I do not like those who threaten the four great clans."

SagePelt and the others helped to get Blue, Sakura and Hidan on their feet and the Outsiders began for home.

"Sakura," Crescent said, "You heard what Rachel said about the four clans' right?"

Sakura nodded. "Do you any of you still want to try and steal their land?"

Sakura stepped in silence for what seemed like eons. She was carrying Blue, because he had passed out. She knew they needed a way to get to ThunderClan's leader.

_But how?_ She thought. _Rachel is too strong, but she does not smell of Thunder. Perhaps she is a loner. Loners aren't allowed at gatherings._

She wasn't sure of this, so she consulted Crescent.

"I doubt it. She's not a member if she's a loner, she's not allowed at gatherings, but she could be a new member." Crescent replied.

"But they're not like us," Sakura countered thoughtfully, "they don't take in new members like we do."

"True…" Crescent admitted.

"Maybe we could go to one of those gathering-full moon-thingies. It's s'pposed to be a time of peace for the Clans." Hidan offered weakly.

"That is _actually_ a good idea…" Sakura noted.

Hidan gave a meek 'harrumph' to this, but was too tired and injured to argue.

Crescent seemed satisfied with these answers, at least for now, and was silent the rest of the way home.

Chapter 2:

Where in the name of Shadows have you been?!" Rifka was infused with rage, "And what in the name of the Inner World have you been doing?!"

When she saw their wounds she added:

"And what the hell happened to you?!"

"We, uh--" Hidan began.

"Nothing from you, smart-alec!" Rifka shouted at him.

She turned to Cleo and Elviria and gave them a look that told them to answer the question.

"I sawHidan asking Elviria and Blue if they wanted to meet our neighbors," Cleo started, "and it sounded like an adventure, so I asked if I could come along. Hidan said I could bring Crescent and Sakura, and after some pleading, they both agreed to come along."

"When we reached the border, a patrol soon spotted us. They were SnakeScorch, NightPool, TawnyPaw and FrostPaw of ThunderClan. NightPool introduced them; and Hidan introduced us. NightPool, after that, was really harsh and scornful and stuff.

"Then this white warrior, SagePelt, came up. She's also from ThunderCla--"

Cleo was cut off by Rifka.

"I saw that warrior when I was hunting!" Rifka realized, "she was friendly and smiled at me."

"Anyway," Elviria began instead of Cleo, "she was really chipper and sounded like she wanted to be our best friend—her voice that is."

"Hidan asked if we could meet some ThunderClan cats." Cleo offered.

Elviria nodded her head quickly and continued:

"Yeah, when he did, NightPool got really crabby, like Blue is in the morning sometimes."

"Hey!" Blue interjected, for he was now conscious, but is wounds were still bleeding freely.

"You--" Sakura said lovingly but in a harsh tone, "need to have those wounds bandaged."

Blue was trotted off to the herb patch by Sakura, and Rifka prodded Elviria of more information.

"So?" She said.

"Oh yeah. So when SagePelt came, she criticized NightPool for being so snappish. He didn't really like SagePelt's comment and grunted. SagePelt led us to the camp, but before we got there, we saw this loner called Rachel.

Rifka looked interested, and nodded as Elviria talked.

"So the she attacked Blue!" Cleo blurted

"So that's how he got hurt…" Sky whispered to himself.

"Yeah," Elviria continued, "Sakura tried to jump on her, but Rachel wounded her and sent her flying. Then Hidan tried to jump on her, but he went flying too and crashed into a tree."

"Hidan!" Sky interrupted, "to the herb patch!"

Hidan obeyed and limped over to where Sakura was nursing Blue.

"Carry on." This was the reply from Rifka.

"And, um, then Rachel went for Sakura again, but Crescent came to her rescue,"

Crescent smiled and straightened himself up, but with a small struggle as he winced in pain. Sky noticed this too.

"To the herb patch!" he commanded.

"But--" Crescent protested, but surrendered when he received a complementary kick from Rifka.

She nodded at Cleo and Elviria, who were the only cats standing before their leaders, and signaled that they could resume.

"So Crescent came to her rescue, and Rachel stabbed him instead. Then he tried to protest, but she saw Hidan flaying towards her and whacked him with those razor-sharp claws of hers. Then she finally agreed not to injure us any further and said that she pounced 'cause Blue's back was tense and he looked ready to spring at any moment when Crescent asked her why she beat us up. Then the other warriors helped us up with a look that said 'she's not usually like this. We're sorry.' Then Blue passed out and we left." Elviria concluded.

"She also said she didn't like cats that threatened the four great Clans." Cleo added, "And Crescent asked Sakura if she thought we should still take their land. She said that maybe we should talk to the leaders at one of the full moon-gatherings., and also that Rachel wouldn't be there because she smelled like a loner and loners aren't allowed at the peace-gatherings. I think."

After a long period of silence, Rifka said,

"Maybe a meow with the Clan leaders would be better than just attacking them."

She was obviously rethinking her prior notions. Sky nodded his head in agreement.

"I now believe that violence is now the correct decision." He agreed with Rifka.

Cleo knew they wouldn't openly admit that they had been wrong, so she left the subject at that, and saw Rifka pad over to the herb patch. Cleo and Elviria followed her.

"What in the name of Shadows did you think you were doing?!" she flamed at Hidan when she got to the herb patch.

"Well, uh," Hidan stammered, "We don't need to mindlessly go steal the only land that Thunder owns, the only land they know!"

Hidan got more and more confident with every word he meowed.

"I thought you wouldn't believe me if I was the only witness, so I asked Blue and Elviria if they wanted to meet their ThunderClan."

Rifka looked at Blue and Elviria, and they both nodded, signaling that this was true, even though they had already told her the whole story. She glanced back over to Hidan and he continued.

"They said yes and we went--"

"Hidan!" Rifka looked firmly at him with her jaw set, "I don't want to hear the whole story over again. What I wanna know is why you thought it was appropriate to take these Trainees over to ThunderClan land!"

"I didn't know they were going to get hurt!" Hidan protested.

"But they did, did they not?" Rifka's tone was harsh.

"yes." Hidan surrendered, but he wouldn't go without the words:

"I thought is we met them and they were nice you wouldn't attack them… um, maybe talk to them… instead…?"

Rifka gave him a questioning glare that soon turned into one of disapproval. Hidan bowed his head, but to his surprise, Rifka said,

"Sky and I will discuss your idea of having a talk with the leaders."

But then to his dismay,

"And to decide your punishment."

Hidan knew this was coming, and he stared at the loose soil under his paws with resentment.

"Dismissed!" Rifka said sharply as she looked at him sternly.

Rifka turned back to Elviria and Cleo.

"He…uh… asked us if we wanted to meet our neighbors before we decided whether or not to kill them. Elviria tried to bring some humor into conversation, and received a snort of amusement from Rifka.

"Well," she said, still chuckling, "isn't that pleasant."

Elviria and Cleo giggled at this grim subject.

"Now," Rifka was suddenly strict, "go assist your comrades in aiding their wounds. Dismissed!"

Elviria was surprised at the formal speech that Rifka was using. Cleo had obviously been thinking the same thing, for she said,

"What was with Rifka and all her fancy words?" Cleo put it much simpler than Elviria was thinking.

They looked around the herb patch to find Sakura fiercely attending to Blue.

_Well what else would you expect of her? _Elviria thought,_ Blue's her son._

She padded over to Blue and Sakura, carrying some dock leaves over to Sakura. She chewed them up and spat them onto a big green leaf and offered them to Sakura.

"Thanks, Elviria." She took the pulp and applied it to Blue without looking up.

"You're welcome." Elviria replied.

Cleo was soon over by Crescent applying cobwebs to his leg, which appeared to be broken. He winced in pain as he tried to stand, and Cleo gave him a shoulder. The two staggered awkwardly over to a large flat rock on which the Defenders slept. Cleo helped him get into a comfortable position in his mossy nest.

"Wait one second." She whispered as she darted back over to the herb patch.

She grabbed some moss and trotted back over to Crescent. She dropped it next to him triumphantly and slipped some under his injured leg and his head.

"Thanks." He murmured, and seemed to have been drained of energy.

Cleo departed and arrived back at the herb patch to see Sky talking with Elviria. Hidan tried to look asleep so Sky wouldn't try to start a conversation with him.

"So you nor Cleo got hurt?" he asked.

"Nope." She replied.

"Well at least you two are fine." He said, glancing over towards Hidan.

He left the herb patch with that.

_How can one moon, they're so furious with us, and then the next making sure there's not a scratch on us?_ Cleo wondered.

Hidan let out a sigh of relief that Sky hadn't come to converse with him, but gone to the leaders' den instead.

Cleo picked some dock and got some cobwebs and started tending to Hidan, who was silent. Just to be safe, Cleo grabbed a sprig of thyme and a couple of poppy seeds and ordered Hidan to eat them. He grunted, but swallowed them both. She asked:

"Can you walk?"

Hidan didn't reply, but got up and limped over to the flat rock and curled up beside Crescent. Cleo came soon after with a wad of mass that she propped his head and his wounded paw up with.

Back at the herb patch, Elviria had finished aiding Blue and Sakura. Rifka came over and ordered:

"Blue, stay in the medicine patch. You will sleep here tonight." She was stern again.

"Sakura, you can sleep with the rest of the Defenders." Sky told her.

_It's like their in sync._ Elviria thought.

"But--" Sakura protested

"No buts." This was Rifka's stern reply.

"We'll have a healthy cat look after Blue." This was Sky.

"He will be fine." Rifka concluded.

"It's so creepy, the way the finished each other's thoughts just then." Elviria said to Cleo once Rifka and Sky were in their den and out of earshot.

"Yeah." Cleo agreed.

The two cats walked back to the small patch of tall grass, where the Trainees slept, in silence. Kisa was sleeping calmly in her nest and Cleo and Elviria settled in beside her.

Not so long after she had fallen asleep, Elviria woke up and remembered Blue. He was alone in the herb patch when Elviria took a peek.

_Rifka must have forgotten to send somebody to keep an eye on him during the night, _Elviria thought, _so I'll do it._

She padded over to him and, making sure he was asleep, curled up next to him. For a while, she lay awake staring at the stars.

"Shadows watch over him." She prayed, even though she knew his wounds weren't fatal, it made her feel better when she did this.

She soon fell asleep beside him, breathing evenly into his soft, blue fur.

Meanwhile, even at this time, Rifka and Sky were discussing Hidan's punishment in hushed mews.

"He broke the rules," Rifka started, "its only fair. Punishment is due to all who break the rules."

"Yes, but what?" Sky wondered aloud.

"Possibly tend to the sick for a moon when he's fully healed." Rifka suggested, "or he could pull ticks off everyone for a moon."

"I believe the ticks are a good idea." Sky consented, even though he did not feel that this was the right punishment.

"You do?" Rifka sounded surprised, as if the suggestion of pulling ticks was just a joke.

"Yes," Sky answered, " but not quite. But his paws would smell for moons!"

Rifka chuckled softly.

"Then it's settled." Rifka decided, "But make note of any other ideas."

"We should wait until morning to tell him but it must only start when he's fully healed. We can't have him reopening his wounds."

Sky settled into his nest and soon fell asleep, but Rifka lay awake, pawing at the soft moss that she was curled up on.

_Why did he do it? _Rifka thought before she fell asleep,_ He knew the risks._

When Rifka awoke she padded out to the sight rock [a big boulder by their camp].

Out of nowhere Hidan appeared and gazed longingly at the sky.

"It must be lonely," he said. "To be the sun. Yer all alone all day. But the _stars_, they have each other. They're never alone. Like the clan cats."

"_Or us._" Rifka said in a hushed growl.

She left Hidan to ponder the sky while she went hunting.

Rifka brought back a successful catch. She dumped most in their fresh kill pile and walked on.

Kira saw Rifka and immediately ran up to her. "Rifka! Rifka! Oh it's terrible! Imagine the trouble he could be in!"she mewed.

"What is it?" Rifka said.

Kira panted, "It's Hidan- he's _gone!"_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2:**

"What do you mean he's gone?" Rifka said.

"Crescent can't be found either," Sky said padding up to them.

"So they might be together?" Rifka said a tiny bit relived.

Sky nodded. "Kira" he said. "Gather four or five others and go search."

Kira nodded quickly then ran off.

…

TawnyPaw padded eagerly ahead turning back only to make sure her mentor was following.

SagePelt padded closely behind her apprentice unaware of their luck.

It wasn't just the mouse she watched TawnyPaw triumphantly catch, but the Outsiders as well.

SagePelt caught a familiar scent.

"Oh hi!" she mewed excitedly to Hidan and Crescent.

They were glad that they'd run into her instead of anyone else.

"SagePelt" Hidan said, grunting a bit from Crescent's weight. Hidan had to help him walk.

"Yeah?" she grinned.

"Uh where can we find Rachel?"

SagePelt tipped her head to the side a bit. "Um she lives on WindClan land."

"Could you take us there?" Hidan said hopefully.

TawnyPaw looked uneasy though this did not affect her mentor. "Yeah why not?" SagePelt mewed. "TawnyPaw-"

"Alright" she sighed.

SagePelt carefully led them across a border and far enough to run into a pair of WindClan cats.

"Who are they?" a small brown cat asked a fluffy black and grey she-cat.

"It's SagePelt" the she-cat told him. "And _who_ are your guests?"

"Erm MossMeadow, MousePaw-" SagePelt mewed a tiny bit less bubbly than normal. "they're Outsiders,"

"I can see that," the she-cat said.

"Er no MossMeadow like the big group of rouges- the Outsiders."

MossMeadow nodded briefly. "What do they want?" she asked icily.

"We came to see Rachel," Crescent said humbly.

"Will she want to see you?" TawnyPaw mewed hesitantly from behind SagePelt.

"Either way" Hidan mewed confidently, "We must see her."

Without warning a badger who'd spied the group dashed at them suspecting they were easy prey.

It shot a massive paw at them hitting MousePaw and sending him flying. "MousePaw!" MossMeadow yelled. He'd been tossed several feet away.

Hidan lunged at it, only to have a big claw rake his side.

For one reason or another it now only wanted him dead. The badger kicked the others aside knocking them to the ground with a few hard kicks.

Then it turned back to Hidan.

Hidan waited for it to kill him. It sent one of its paws up into the air and he closed his eye's tight.

But nothing happened. "Thank StarClan! Rachel!" he heard MossMeadow pant.

Hidan opened his eyes and saw the grey she cat standing over the badger with one paw on its back and one on its neck.

With a sickening crack the crushed its spine and neck in an instant.

This was insane.

"Sorry MossMeadow- this one slipped away from me," Rachel apologized.

"The Outsiders are what?!" Rachel yelled after Hidan and Crescent explained to her.

"We- we don't know for sure Rachel"- Hidan said.

"Please don't be rash until we know," Crescent mewed.

"Fine- but you _will_ warn me should there be any other decisions made-" Rachel did not _ask_ this- it was more of an order.

"Thank you-" she said to them. "You are like my Insiders. No one shall know of this but us."

Rifka paced nervously.

"This is Rifka?" she heard someone at the entrance of the camp say.

There stood a grey she cat with brown stripes who Crescent was leaning on.

"Who are _you?_" Rifka asked her.

"Rachel."

Hidan told her of Rachel's "fight" with the badger.

_Who is she?_ Rifka wondered.

"Uh… Rifka, this is Rachel…" Hidan answered, "She was the one who beat us all up when I took everyone to ThunderClan's land…"

Rachel nodded, but seemed indifferent to this comment.

"She's, like really strong too." Hidan added, "And just now she kinda saved our butts… so…. Thanks though." he added, directed towards Rachel.

"I see." Rifka had been scowling at the she-cat, but when she heard that part of her family's butts had been saved by her, she was furious. She turned to Hidan.

"Hidan, a badger. Defender's are strong and powerful not kits who need saving. We are teaching our Trainees how to fight. We taught you, and every other cat in the Outsiders." She turned to Rachel, "Rachel, I'm glad you were there to save their sorry butts, and I thank you for that" Still talking to Rachel, who still appeared indifferent to the conversation, Rifka glared at Hidan, "We hope you don't have to do it again."

Hidan couldn't contain himself.

"I'm sorry! It's just it popped up out of nowhere! How was I supposed to know it would come out?" He tried desperately to save himself from the piercing of Rifka's eyes.

"Be alert. Be ready. Be prepared." This was what Rifka left Hidan with, but no sooner did she resume her harsh stare.

Hidan lowered his eyes, as he could not bear to see Rifka's eyes burning holes into his any longer. He could still fell her presence.

"Excuse us." Rifka told Rachel.

"Hidan! Where have you been?" Rifka was, again, flaming.

"I--" Hidan started.

"_Two_ moons of… no_ four _moons of pulling ticks for you." She corrected herself, "And I don't want any excuses. I'm going to take you back to the camp, and then I'll have a little chat with Sky, and then we'll both have a chat with you."

Hidan wondered how she could string so much information into one sentence.

Rifka walked over to Rachel and said:

"Thank you, Good-bye."

With that she left. He and Crescent followed Rifka submissively, with Kira and the others following. Once they got to the camp, were sent to bed without any fresh kill, like naughty kits or apprentices.

…

"Well?" Sky asked, after Rifka explained what had happened on WindClan territory, "Why did he drag Crescent out over to WindClan land?"

"To see that rouge, obviously." Rifka told him, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"No," Sky wasn't satisfied with Rifka's answer, "Why did they want to see her in the first place."

"I doubt it was to talk to her about attacking Blue and the others." Sky replied absentmindedly.

"Maybe... but… I don't know…" Rifka was also thinking of something else.

"Well, it is a bit on the late side," Sky commented, "perhaps we should get some rest."

"Well, I believe that is a fine idea." Rifka stretched her jaws in a fake yawn, but settled into her nest again, resting. Not sleeping, resting.

"Sky?" She noticed that Sky was not breathing steadily as he usually did when he was asleep, "You still awake?"

"Yeah."

_Sky seems wide awake, figuring from his tone_, Rifka thought.

"Wacha want?" Sky grumbled.

_Or maybe not_, she followed up.

"You know perfectly well what." Rifka was snappish as she usually was in the mornings, seeing that the sun had just peaked over the horizon.

"No, actually I don't." Sky was also grumpy.

"Hnnn…" Rifka pondered, " I don't see why Hidan and Crescent went to see Rachel. I mean, what was so dire they needed her for?"

"Well why don't cha ask him?" Sky didn't seem annoyed, but instead a little curious. He was still thoroughly grumpy. "I wouldn't know."

"I don't want to approach him directly… I suppose Hidan dragged Crescent out there… He always has these big, irresponsible ideas. Like taking three Trainees into ThunderClan land." She glared at the wall of the leaders' den as if she could see through the wall. Sky assumed that she was imagining she could see Hidan, and was glaring at him.

_Rifka always has the oddest thoughts and the like, _Sky thought_, But they're usually right._

"Well, seems like you have to Rifka." This was Sky's solemn reply.

Rifka didn't answer but instead grunted. There were a few moments' silence, but then Rifka told Sky,

"I raised his punishment from one moon of tick pulling to four moons of tick pulling."

"Crescent needs a punishment too, y'know." Sky was being very informal in his speech.

"Well, Crescent can have two moons." Rifka decided, without asking for Sky's consent.

"That sounds good." Sky gave his thoughts on the matter.

"Well…"

"Well what?" Sky asked, sounding tired now.

"Well if it was Crescent's idea and not Hidan's—which I highly doubt that it was—Hidan's punishment will be four moons, counting his earlier incident, and Crescent will have three also." Rifka said defiantly, "Did I do my math correctly?" She asked Sky.

"Well, what were the two different numbers of moons the punishment was going to be?" Sky asked.

When Rifka looked confused, he added:

"How long each of them were to pull ticks off of the cats."

Rifka nodded her head, signaling that she had gotten it, and said:

"Whoever's idea it was, was going to get three moons, and whoever was dragged along would get two moons."

"What if they both hatched the 'great' plan?" Instead of answering Rifka's question, he posed another one.

"Uh…" She didn't feel like going into that now, so replied, "We'll figure that out once it comes along."

Sky nodded, because it seemed like a good, or at least decent, thought to him in the meanwhile, as it was not the most likely thing in the world.

Now, remembering her prior question, Rifka asked again,

"Did I do my math correctly?"

"What were the two lengths of punishments again? I confuse myself with side conversations. "

"Um… excluding Hidan's earlier punishment, the cat that had the idea would have three moons, and the one who followed along would have two."

"OK then," Sky was doing the math in his head, "If it was Hidan's idea, he would have four moons, and Crescent would have two moons. Now, if it was Crescent's idea, which I also highly doubt it was, Crescent would have three moons and Hidan would have two moons…. Three including his other chastisement."

"Alright." Rifka said, "Now I'm going to get some shut-eye now."

"I'll tell Lars that he's in charge for the time being."

"Gllmph." This was Rifka's reply, as she already drifting off into a deep sleep.

…

"Lars," Sky prodded the large brown tom, "Lars, get up!"

"Hnnn?" Lars blinked wearily.

"Rifka and I are having a talk in our den; it might take a while, so we'd like you to be in charge. You know, just make sure everything is in order," Sky glanced reproachfully at Hidan and continued: "And tell cats when to patrol and the like." Sky told him, rather commanded him, and left, leaving Lars no time for questions or comments, just t say in reply,

"Alright, Sky!" a bit too loudly.

In doing this, he woke a few cats who gave him glances of castigation. He quickly settled down, and the other cats he had woken up did so also, eager to get back to sleep.

…

Back in the leaders' den, Rifka was asleep when Sky entered, so he quietly got into his nest. Instead of going to sleep as he commonly did, he lay awake. He was more aware of the earlier incidents now, and wondered.

_Why _did_ he go over there? _Sky thought, _Or rather why did _they_ go over there?_

Sky felt like he was talking to the Spirits of Shadow World, and asking them to answer all of his questions, which he was.

_Why did that cat, Rachel, protect them instead of attack them this time? _Thiswas the main question on his mind, _I mean; she attacks them, and then saves their lives. Why? I guess anyone would, but still…_

He trailed off with his thoughts. He was tired, and finally trailed off to sleep.

…

"So," Rifka's tone towards Hidan was stern, "Why did you do it?"

Hidan was silent. After awhile, since Hidan still refused to speak, Rifka turned to Crescent to see if she could extract more information from him.

"So? Do you have anything for me?" Rifka asked after Crescent also refused to speak.

Neither of them would speak, so after about an hour later of staring each other down, Rifka was so exasperated, that she just walked away from Sky, Crescent and Hidan.

Sky took this opportunity to see if he could force anything out of Crescent or Hidan.

"Well. I see you wouldn't give anything to Rifka." He told them, rather at them, for they were standing there as if he didn't exist, and stared at the place he stood as if he was a rock.

"Well, I hope you know you each get at least two moons of tick pulling; off of everyone. Hidan, you will get at least three, due to your earlier infringement of the rules. Rifka and I are pretty sure that this was your idea Hidan, therefore if it was, you will get four moons and Crescent, you will get two."

The two were taken aback, but they tried not to show it, but Crescent cracked more than Hidan did. He said a low, muffled, tone:

"Crap."

Sky decided not to say anything, but thought:

_Well, they're actually admitting that I'm here. At least Crescent is._

"Well, now that you both know that, I think my job here is done."

He turned around to leave, but called over his white shoulder:

"If either of you feel the need to tell Rifka or I why you chose to go to WindClan land to talk to that rouge Rachel, please feel free. We'd love to hear it. Even though you probably wouldn't, we might be able to cut your punishments a little bit…"

With that he left to the den he and Rifka shared.

…

The night sky grew seemingly darker as Rifka padded slowly away from the camp.

_Has a day already gone by?_ She wondered.

Apparently it had.

Sky padded after her. "You seem troubled," he observed. "Is this about Rachel?"

"Yes."

The two noticed Hidan sitting by a small pond.

"Hidan" Sky said.

Hidan barely turned to look at them. "What?" he said.

"What are you doing out?" Sky said.

"I'm watching the stars." Sky and Rifka sat down near him, listening.

"Did you know that the Clans cats ancestors live up there? They call it SilverPelt."

The leaders looked at him curiously but said nothing.

"SilverPelt is where the dead clan members go. Oh yeah. I have something to tell you."

The leaders looked at him with interest. "What?" they asked in unison.

"Don't punish Crescent for anything. I dragged him along without his permission."

"You mean to find Rachel?" Rifka mewed quickly.

Hidan nodded.

"Yeah."

"Why did you go?" Sky said in an empty voice.

Hidan didn't take his eyes off of the stars. "I went to tell Rachel that the Outsiders might

attack ThunderClan. _I_ went to warn her and ask her to protect them."

Rifka stirred and was becoming furious.

"Why would you tell-" Sky trailed off.

"Hidan!" Rifka screamed.

"If you thought your punishment was bad………" she panted heavily.

"Rifka-" Sky said. But it was no use.

"You're BANNISHED! Leave the Outsiders at once!"

Hidan looked up unphased.

"Okay," he said calmly. Hidan got up and padded away.

Rifka and Sky sat stunned; unable to move.

"He…..just…..left" Rifka said, her eyes wide. "Just…left. No argument. Just like that."

Hidan was no longer an Outsider.

Kira opened her eyes and sat up.

_Rifka and Sky aren't back yet,_ she realized.

Kira sat still a few minutes more then stood up. She padded around their land.

Kira saw Rifka and Sky sitting by a pond.

She bounded over to them.

"Rifka! Sky!" she called. They looked over at her. Kira stopped short a few steps away from them.

"Wh- what happened?" she said hesitantly.

Carmen felt a sharp pain in her side. She looked up and saw Kira who'd slammed into her.

"Sis!" Kira panted. This was urgent.

"What?" Carmen asked. "They kicked Hidan out!!!!!" Kira mewled.

"WHAT?!" Carmen repeated. "Why?!"

Carmen didn't wait for an answer. She dashed out of the nursery.

Carmen found the leaders in their den. "Why?!" she demanded loudly.

"Hidan! What did Hidan do?!"

Rifka looked at her, her expression cold.

"He told Rachel everything. He gave her the wrong idea and he made what we need to do much harder," she said.

Carmen was silent, her face became blank and she padded out.

"We'd better watch out for Rachel," Copper was saying as Carmen slowly walked up to the fresh kill pile.

"Shut up!" Carmen hissed. "We owe Rachel two of the Outsiders' lives. She saved Hidan and Crescent."

Carmen didn't wait for Copper to say anything just stormed angrily away.

"This means that we can't punish Crescent you know," Sky said. "He did nothing."

"Just because he's you brother doesn't mean you can play favorites," Rifka said.

"He did nothing Rifka."

"Fine. We can let him be."

"Really go," Kira grinned. "Me and Mona will watch them, go have fun." Kira nudged her sister towards the camp entrance. "Go," she laughed.

Carmen obediently walked out.

In no time she had tracked down a rabbit. Carmen pursued it mercilessly. As she launched she saw a massive figure over her.

Carmen took a deep breath and gasped. She realized two things.

One: she was on Thunder land,

and Two: there was a badger behind her.

…..

Mona looked around the nursery. She watched the kits play happily.

"Kira?" she said.

"Yeah?"

"When will Carmen be back?"

"I dunno- "

…..

The badger snarled revealing an uncountable number of gleaming yellow teeth.

It swatted Carmen and sent her crashing into a mess of jagged rocks.

Carmen gasped as a shard flew into her side tearing a gash in it.

The badger leapt at her. It landed beside her and smashed a rock above her burying her in the ruble.

Then it dug her out and tossed her around.

Carmen felt whack after whack as she flew from tree to tree.

Suddenly the massive beast stopped.

One of her eye's slowly opened a crack.

Hidan!

Hidan tore into the badger mercilessly.

Carmen felt a slight tug at her shoulder. Rachel nudged Carmen onto her back and sprinted up a tree.

"Hidan!" she called. "Get up here! I'll take care of it."

Hidan left the dying badger and walked to the bottom of the tree.

"Good work," Rachel said.

"You've been helpful" Hidan said to her.

"Thank StarClan Thunder has you," Rachel said. "I'll be away for a few days. Some of these guys got away from me. I'll have to spend some time tracking them down and keeping them off the Clan land."

Hidan nodded. "I'll tell them. The gathering is in a few nights."

Hidan jumped and in one swift movement he was beside her on a limb.

Carmen felt the limb give way as she fell.

And yet, she didn't hit the ground.

Hidan had her scruff in his mouth. He didn't let go until they were on the ground.

"We should get you to FeatherHeart," Hidan said. "That's the second time you've saved my life" she told him.

He shifted Carmen onto his back and sped to the ThunderClan camp.

_He's changed so much in one night_, Carmen realized. _He's so fast and so strong._

"What's StarClan?" Carmen asked.

"SilverPelt is where Clan cat's who've died go. And all of them make up StarClan," Hidan said seriously.

"They watch over and guide us."

"But then why?" Carmen said remembering that Rachel had thanked them. "Why does Rachel believe in them if she isn't part of the Clans?"

"I don't know," Hidan said. "But she does."

He set her down on a bed of warm moss in a roomy den.

There were square holes in the wall where plants had been placed.

A small red she-cat hurried in. "Rachel told me you brought us an Outsider," she smiled.

"Carmen is hurt bad," Hidan told her. "A gash in her side. Possibly other injuries internally. Could be from shock, more likely getting smacked around. Check for infection from the rubble. Or even the badger. It won't have spread too much if there is, I think."

The red cat nodded quickly and began sorting through the plants.

_He's changed much more than anyone would think,_ Carmen realized.

"We're out of marigold," Hidan said. "I'll get some. Take care of her FeatherHeart."

Hidan walked to the entranced.

"Hidan! No don't leave me!" Carmen cried.

"I'll be back soon" he said. Hidan set his head on top of hers. "I will be right back" he promised, and then walked out.

Hidan walked out and saw SagePelt leading TawnyPaw back into the camp.

"SagePelt, sorry to ask you this but could you please help me restock the marigold and cobwebs? I promised Carmen I'd be back soon."

She cheerfully nodded.

"I saw some on our way here," SagePelt grinned. She led Hidan to a small field a short distance away.

SagePelt was never unhappy unless totally necessary. That was one thing Hidan liked about her.

Carmen watched in fascination as FeatherHeart mixed plants and lathered brown goo onto streaks of cobwebs. "Stay still," FeatherHeart said as she carefully put the cobwebs covered in the stick mixture onto her gash.

_The Outsiders don't have a healer_, Carmen thought.

Carmen noticed that she had wiped up some of the blood onto a yellow leaf that was turning orange.

"What's that?" Carmen asked shakily.

"The leaf with blood on it I can use to see if the badger caused you any internal harm."

"And the cobwebs?"

"Those are to stop the bleeding, and the tree sap on it is combined with some herbs to help heal your gash. Oh, were almost out of cobwebs," FeatherHeart said.

"Good thing we got some more," Hidan said stepping in. Beside him there stood a pretty white she-cat with a huge grin.

"Carmen this is SagePelt," the white cat grinned even bigger than before.

"SagePelt has been very helpful in making me feel at home" Hidan said.

He turned to FeatherHeart and helped her put the herbs in the right places.

'_It's like he's lived here forever, not just a night',_ Carmen thought sadly. _He seems so at home here._

"Other than his name you'd never know he wasn't Clan born!" SagePelt mewed in an effort to cheer up Carmen.

Unfortunately, this did not help.

"You really fit in," Carmen said to Hidan a while later over a mouse.

"Yeah, Clan life is great. You always have someone lookin' out for yuh," he said.

"When will this end?" Carmen said abruptly.

"When will what end?" Hidan asked.

"When will you come home?" Carmen said staring intently at him.

"I'm sorry Carmen," Hidan told her. "This is my home now."

"But! But!" Carmen wailed. "You can't leave me!"

"You can come and be part of the clan life too if you want," Hidan said absently, while stargazing.

Carmen looked at him in shock. "What? I- I have family, in the Outsiders……

I have Willow and Chloie and Juni."

"They can be part of this too Karma," Hidan told her.

"You don't even care that they don't like you? Why? Why have you never hated them back?"

"I can't hate anyone that loves you Karma, don't forget that."

Carmen looked at him in shock, her eyes welling up with tears.

She pressed he face into his fur.

"I love you" she whispered.

She felt his head on top of hers.

"I love you too Karma, my own personal piece of Karma."

Carmen felt her heart melt at his words, she was his. Forever.

He would be eternally faithful, and when they died they could be together in StarClan.

She'd never been loved by her kits father. A tom who'd only wanted revenge on his unfaithful former mate.

But Hidan would love her.

HawkStar looked up to see Hidan and the Outsider enter her den.

"Yes?" she said.

"Carmen wishes to join us, and to bring her kits," Hidan said.

"Alright then, a queen. Hidan have you told her of our ways? Has she accepted them?"

"She knows of StarClan and SilverPelt and of the gatherings….but I still must teach her

the warrior code."

HawkStar looked at Hidan proudly. "Good," she said. "If she accepts the code then she may join us."

……

Kira looked worriedly up at the dark sky.

Carmen hadn't returned. Perhaps something had happened to her.

When Kira reported these suspicions to the leaders, they were immediately worried.

"Lars!" Rifka said, noticing he was nearby.

"Yeah?" he asked in reply.

"Gather a patrol and go out on a search for Carmen."

The big brown tom nodded and instantly began to do as his leader had commanded him.

"Isn't Carmen _Hidan's_ mate?" Sky asked after a moment of thought.

"He loves her, but I think that's about as outright as it gets," Kira said, unaware of what had happened at the ThunderClan camp.

"Do you think she went looking for him?" Rifka said.

Sky nodded. "It's possible. Kira, gather a patrol of your own and search near ThunderLand."

"Yessir!" Kira said before hurrying off.

At dawn both patrols returned.

"There was blood," Gretz reported. "Carmen's and what we think is badger blood, by the smell of it. Quite horrible, let me tell you that. Not a doubt about it. There was also the scent of badger, Rachel, Carmen and some ThunderClan cat."

"This isn't enough!" Kira wailed. "I need to know more" she said then ran through the camp, and onto ThunderLand.

Kira was back almost an hour later. She spoke to no one, just blankly walked into the nursery.

A few moments later she came out with Carmen's kits, which had similar expressions.

They all spoke to no one. Just expressionlessly left the camp.

..….

"MOMMY!" Willow shrieked with joy, seeing her mother at the ThunderClan border.

Carmen cuddled her kits. "What's _he_ doing here?!" Willow demanded at seeing Hidan behind her.

"Hidan saved my life and showed me clan life" Carmen told her kits.

"Are you sure about this, Sis?" Kira said.

"I am, I'm ready for a new life, with a real mate."

"_MATE?!_" her sister and kits echoed her.

"Yes, Hidan is _mine_ now," Carmen said, putting extra emphasis on _mine_.

"He's our dad now?!" Willow demanded.

"Yes, so get used to it, kits." Carmen pressed her muzzle to Hidan, who gave a velvety purr.

"I wanna go home!" Willow yelled.

"We _are_, Willow, we're going to our new home now."

…..

"KIRA!" Rifka shot, as she came into the camp.

"Where have you been?! And where are Carmen's kits?!"

"Carmen and her kits and Hidan are together," Kira said as she slumped down on a mess of tangled moss. "They're all ThunderClan now…"

"They're WHAT?!" Rifka shouted at Kira once she had the full story.

"Hidan decided to live under the protection of Thunder, and he became one of their Clan. Carmen, apparently, couldn't live without Hidan, so she went looking for him. Thunder's leader said if Hidan taught Carmen the warrior code, and she accepted it, she could live with Hidan in ThunderClan. Of course, Carmen had to have her kits with her, so they went too." Kira explained to Rifka for the second time.

Rifka had been listening intently, and now took a few moments' time to ponder this fact. She opened her mouth as if to protest or exclaim 'WHAT?!' again, but instead remained silent and stared at the loose, damp soil under her paws.

"He really does follow orders…" Rifka muttered half sarcastically, half really believing what she was saying_. 'And always finds ways to slip through them… And the rules too, for that matter_,' she thought, rolling her eyes.

Assuming the authority tone that she usually had, Rifka said,

"We've got to get him back. What if he tells Thunder of our plans, secrets and weaknesses?"

"I really don't know…" Lars's booming voice rang in the small den

"Nor I…" Sky was at a complete loss too.

"Well?" Rifka prodded, "We have to do this together."

The group nodded slightly.

"Do you think that we should tell the others?" Kira piped up.

"Well, I'm sure they've noticed that Hidan's gone." Lars put in. _And that his big mouth isn't blabbing all the time, _he thought to himself.

"Well, maybe we should wait till someone asks…" Sky said thoughtfully.

"Yes, yes." Rifka said promptly, "Then it's settled. _Nobody_ tell what has happened to him. _Nobody_."

'_Her tone was unusually stern_,' Lars thought,_ 'what's the big deal? They're bound to have noticed that he's gone… We really should tell them the truth before they get rambunctious, and the word 'rebellion' comes into their reads. I really do wonder why he left… Rifka banished him, but he actually listened to her for once… He really did leave… But what if he tells the Thunder cats of all of our secrets? What if they plan a surprise attack? What if they drive us out, like BloodClan drove us out of the forest? What will we do then? Come to think of it, what will happen to us if we don't take ThunderClan's land? Will there be another place for us? Back in the forest, maybe there's a place for us to stay… Well, I doubt it, if all four of the Clans left it for here… There's got to be something wrong with it, now mustn't there… Some to think of it, I wonder how all of the others will feel now that he's gone… And Carmen too, and her kits… And I'll bash my head against the stone wall of this very cave is there's a dunderhead who doesn't notice Hidan's gone… I will…'_

He pondered these thoughts, each in their turn, and took no notice of what was happening in the humid cave. While all of these thoughts were crossing mind, Rifka had dismissed the rest if the cats, with the exception of Sky, but he had left anyway, with the farewell,

"My belly is calling for some prey! I'll be back in a bit!"

Lars was about to let some new thoughts enter his mind, when Rifka gave a little 'ahem', with the slightest hint of an annoyed tone. His head jolted up, as he had been staring at the cold, stone floor of the cave. He looked around and noticed that the others had left, even Sky. He had been so deep in his thoughts, that he had not heard a word of Rifka's dismissal, nor the fact that Sky stated he was hungry, and was, therefore, going to hunt to fill the aching in his belly.

"Oh…" He mumbled, "Excuse me, Rifka."

He did not dare make excuses to one of his leaders, least of all the more strict one. Rifka gave a curt nod, and Lars exited the cave.

He winced, and squinted his eyes at the bright sunlight that beamed from above. It warmed his brown pelt. Slightly annoyed with himself, he padded back to the rock on which the Defenders slept. He trotted over to his nest and fell into it.

'_I didn't know I was so tired…' _ He thought, '_I'll just take a little snooze… Maybe a little walk later… Yes, that sounds good.'_

He gave a great yawn, his brown chest heaving, and before drifting off into a deep sleep, he thought to himself, a bit ironically,

'_I do have a habit of thinking to myself, don't I?'_

…

"Lars! Lars!" There came a high squeak from above him, a paw padding his side.

"Yeah Lars! Where's Hidan? And Carmen?" A second voice came from his other side.

He recognized them both to belong to Sorrel and Dove.

"And where's Chloie, Juni and Willow? Huh? Where are they? We wanna play with them! We're bored!" The first voice, Dove whined again.

"Huh?"

Lars tried to disguise the fact that he knew where the said cats were. He blinked a couple times and stared into the two pairs of blue eyes above him.

"C'mon! Tell us!" The second voice, Sorrel pleaded.

"We know you know!" Dove followed up.

"No." Lars snapped at the two kits. His tone was firm; perhaps a little more that he had intended it to be.

The two kits said nothing, but looked at him, taken aback. Their expressions were of awe, astonishment, hurtfulness and despair. Their eyes were wide, and they also looked a tad bit confused at Lars's sudden comeback.

"Fine then. Be that way."

Dove erased the expression on her face, and left it blank. The only thing that she revealed was a slightly menacing glare from her icy blue eyes. She stared a Lars for a few moments. He returned her glare, but unlike Dove's, his showed no expression. He half expected Dove and Sorrel — who had adapted the same expression as Dove -- to burst out laughing at any moment, but they did not. He sighed, and the two kits ran back to the nursery in leaping bounds. More or less, the "leaping bounds" came only from Dove, and Sorrel ran in a tottering fashion behind her.

'_I feel sorry for her_,' Lars thought to himself, '_she never did tell anybody what happened to her leg, how it got crippled.'_

Sorrel had not told a single soul what had happened to her leg. Perhaps she didn't remember it, or maybe she just didn't want anybody to know what had happened.

Maybe I could help… He thought somberly, Oh, there I go again, talking to myself! How does one get rid of these habits?

With a final shake of his head, shaming himself, he drifted back off to sleep again.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3:**

"We have to tell them Sky! Please! Everyone wants to know where he is!" Kira pleaded, "They'll just get anxious. Does the word 'rebellion' mean anything to you?"

'_Just what I thought_,' thought Lars, as he got up_, 'Kira made one mistake though, speaking too loudly. Now the entire camp knows that there's something that's being hidden from them.'_

"Nice job!" Sky snapped at Kira, "Now the entire camp knows there's something we know that they don't. I guess that we'll have to tell them…"

"Sorry!" Kira apologized.

Sky turned his back on her and went to find Rifka.

…

"Kira said it a little bit too loudly," his tone was softer and kinder than it had been before. "Yes… I suppose that we'll have to tell them…" Rifka agreed, "Would you like to do the honors, or should I?"

"I'll do it, I suppose." Sky replied.

"Alright then."

Rifka gave the familiar call:

"Defenders, Trainees, listen to what Sky has to say!"

"I'm sure you have all noticed that Hidan, Carmen and Carmen's kits are gone by now." Sky began.

There was an unenthusiastic nod from the crowd, riding along a couple exclamations of 'duh!', 'yeah!' and a 'yeah, of course! What do you think we are, stupid? Blind? Deaf?' from Copper.

"I'll take that as a yes." Sky concluded.

"Well, Hidan was banished from the Outsiders because he had the bright idea of telling Rachel, a powerful loner, our idea of… _expanding _our territory. He went to live with ThunderClan, and has adapted well to the Clan life,"

He cast a backwards glance at Kira,

"Pretty well. Carmen went to live with him, under the approval of Thunder's leader, in ThunderClan with Hidan. And, of course, she took her three kits, Chloie, Juni and Willow, with her. It is not our decision of who leaves the Outsiders unless they are banished; like Hidan was. Carmen made her own decision to go along and live with him."

A murmur arose from the crowd.

"Our only worry—no, one of our worries is that one of them will tell a ThunderClan cat our weaknesses, or where our camp is, because, as of now, they just know this is our territory, but not the exact location of our camp. One of the kits could, not meaning to, blab something that the ThunderClan cats don't need to know." Rifka added.

"Does this mean we need to get them back?" Crescent asked worriedly. "If Carmen and her kits left, they did for a reason. And you don't expect to bring Hidan back do you?" he added thoughtfully. "Hidan," Sky said with a heavy sigh; "is not allowed to come back for he has been banished. But they could all pose a threat to our plan."

"Do you intend to bring Carmen and her kits back?" Crescent asked.

"It _would _be better if there was less of a chance that ThunderClan knew," Sky nodded. "But-"

"You don't expect her to come back if Hidan doesn't," Crescent interrupted.

Sky nodded again and Crescent wrapped his tail around Mona's, who was sitting beside him as always.

"I suppose we can't," Sky frowned. "Then does anyone besides Tasha, have an idea about what we should do?"

"Hey!" Tasha yelled. "Why not me?!"

"You will try to kill them," Copper said to her. She gave a low growl but remained in her place.

"He's right," Rifka said. "We cannot kill them, our Shadows, would surely punish us."

"The Shadows don't give a damn about traitors!" Tasha yelled.

"Our sister is no traitor!" Carmina and Kira yelled in unison.

"She left us," Tasha pointed out.

"This is true," Crescent said. Then as Carmina and Kira glared at him, they said : "But only someone heartless like you wouldn't understand why." Kira and Carmina nodded, satisfied.

"Perhaps, we should talk with them," Sky said uneasily.

"And maybe we can make them agree not to tell if we convince them we aren't planning to take ThunderLand anymore."

"Why would we tell them that?" Crescent asked unsurely.

Sky looked at him grimly, "To make sure they will tell no one."

……..

"Carmen?" Hidan asked, noticing that she was now awake.

The cool morning air and the bright sun glared at her.

"What are you doing out here?" NightPool demanded as he padded up to them.

"You should be in the warriors den or the nursery. Not a meadow right outside of camp.

We can't keep watch on you if you're here."

"NightPool!" SagePelt complained as she hurried up behind him. "Hidan doesn't need to be watched. Come on! Give them some privacy."

Carmen felt herself flush. She and Hidan had come here to be alone, together.

NightPool gave them a huff then followed SagePelt back to camp.

"I'll check on Chloie, Juni an' Willow for you," SagePelt grinned over her shoulder, before they disappeared behind back to camp.

"What a night," Carmen said. Hidan blushed.

"The whole thing," Carmen giggled, seeing him turn a pinkish color. "Finding you, joining ThunderClan, bringing the kits and that badger."

"Rachel will take care of them," Hidan promised, suddenly back to his normal color.

Hidan returned to his spot lying beside her.

"Is this all real?" Carmen asked suddenly.

"All of it," Hidan promised. "And we can be together now," he said softly, pressing his muzzle into her cheek. "Forever," Carmen sighed. "But what about the Outsiders? What if they do decide to take ThunderClan's land?"

Hidan sighed.

"We won't let them," he said. "I told Rachel, and unless we break the truce with WindClan she will help protect us."

"WindClan? Are they the others?" Carmen asked.

"There are three other clans," Hidan said. "Shadow, Wind and River. About a bit more than half of each clan meets at the gatherings under every full moon," Hidan explained.

"Not everyone?" Carmen wondered aloud.

"Someone has to stay and take care of the camp, like if anyone is sick or something," Hidan said.

"Will we go?"

"Maybe, HawkStar might want us to meet the others."

"The gathering is coming up in a few nights isn't it?" Carmen asked.

Hidan nodded. "Maybe we'll get to go."

"What about the kits? They…" Carmen trailed off.

"It's okay Karma. I love them too."

"Really?"

"Yes, with my heart. With my soul, with my love for you."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

Chloie squirmed out of the nursery.

"Thanks SagePelt," she mewed.

The warrior smiled brightly at her.

"Almost there," she assured.

Chloie saw a pretty meadow right outside of the camp. And there was her mother, and her new father. They were asleep. Cuddled together.

"I'll try not to disturb them," Chloie promised as SagePelt began back for camp.

Hidan opened his eyes and noticed that instead of Carmen; a small white kit was cuddled up next to him.

"Oh good, you're awake," Carmen said.

She sat down beside them.

"Isn't it sweet?" she asked in adoration.

"Yeah, it is," Hidan smiled. He put a paw on his young daughter's head.

"Chloie," he said. She slowly opened her eyes to look at him.

"I don't mind you," Chloie said. "I don't even dislike you, Daddy."

"Always room for changes," Carmen smiled.

Hidan stood up. He flung Chloie lovingly onto his back and the trio headed back to camp.

…….

"What do you suppose we should do, Carmina?" Kira asked her sister once the meeting had ended. "What if she doesn't buy it? Then what? We can't hurt her, she's our sister. And what about Hidan? If he tells them, then wouldn't we need to _silence _his first?

And to do that would kill Karma!

It's like if someone killed Gretz!"

"Or Lars?" Carmina asked. Kira blushed. "That's a bit different."

"What if your own sister killed him…………….?" Kira said.

Carmina understood what her sister was saying.

"Then," she said.

"We won't touch Hidan," Kira finished.

They both nodded.

"Sky," Kira said as they padded over to their leaders. "How do you two propose we get Carmen, the kits and Hidan to come and listen to what we have to say?"

Rifka looked directly at Kira.

"Tomorrow you will both go to ThunderLand and tell them that we must speak with Carmen, Hidan and her kits in our camp immediately."

"Alright." Kira replied numbly.

"You might want to take another with you. Just in case, you know."

Carmina nodded, and Kira replied:

"Yeah, we know."

They were talking about Rachel, just in case she might be lurking around.

"Please do be careful. I truly don't want to lose anymore Outsiders."

For the first time, Carmina considered that Rifka might actually regret sending Hidan away. She pondered this thought for a few moments, but Rifka had already gone when she looked up. She cast an awkward glance at Kira, and then the two sisters went their separate ways; Kira to hunt and Carmina to ponder her thoughts on the Defenders' rock.

Carmina flopped onto her war, mossy nest and resumed her pondering.

_Not because she doesn't want him to tell Thunder our plan_, Carmina realized_, but maybe she really misses him… He was kind of a nuisance at times, but when you lose a piece of family, or even a distant friend, you feel like something's missing. Just like there's a big hole inside of you. A big, gaping hole, which has no bottom and yet is the smallest thing in the world. Something that can be ignored, but always prods your brain, hoping to be thought about. It's like a when you just get used to living near fish and always having that scent in your nose —yuck!—and then suddenly all of the fish leave, and that scent is no more—thank the Shadows! It would feel awfully different if you _were _used to the, wretched, scent and it just left... or disappeared, I guess… What if any of the other Outsiders left? What if Kira left? The rest of my family? My siblings? My mate? My daughter? Auhg! No! I won't let it happen!_

Carmina didn't like that thought one bit, so she dismissed it quickly, hoping desperately that it wouldn't return.

"Should we tell the rest of them we're having a talk?" Rifka asked sky, "Where Kira and Carmina are going, I mean. To Thunder."

"Yes," sky's tone was defiant. "They've had enough secrets kept from them to last a while now."  
"You want to do the honors?" Rifka inquired.  
"Nah, I did it last time. You can do it this time, alright?"  
"Sure," Rifka replied simply, as she prepared to give the call:

"Defenders! Trainees! Come gather to hear the news!"

The cats gathered around; tearing themselves away from their prior activities, some eagerly and some not so much. The majority of the Outsiders -- with the exception of Copper, Lars and Tip who were sleeping under the warm rays of the sun -- were gazing up at Rifka and Sky.

Carmina nudged Kira,

"I bet this is about Hidan, Carmen, Chloie, Juni and Willow."

"You can say 'Hidan, Carmen and their kits', you know!" Kira nudged Carmina playfully, "And I'd have dibs on that if you hadn't already called it."

"Whatever," Carmina replied gaily, glancing up at Rifka who had already began to speak. She nudged her sister lightly and told her: "Shhhhh. Rifka's announcing it now."

Kira glanced up, but this time her eyes remained planted on the two leaders as Carmina's were. Kira didn't respond to Carmina but she could tell that Kira's expression, using her peripheral vision, said "I've noticed."

"I'm sure you've all heard the Carmen, her kits and her mate Hidan have moved to ThunderClan, on account of the fact that Hidan was banished from the outsiders for a very deep infringement of the rules. _Very _deep." Rifka emphasized 'deep' heavily. "As Sky told you," she added quickly.

Nods rose from the anxious crowd; they were getting more and more eager to discover what Rifka had lying behind all of this suspense.

"Just tell us the news already!" Tasha blurted, "You changed the call a bit – 'Defenders and Trainees come gather around if you want to hear the news' or somethin' like that, so will you just let the cat out of the bag already?"

Tasha laughed at her pun, even though none of the other cats did. She was about to explain it to them when Rifka resumed her speech.

"Alright Tasha," she started for the second time, "I'll grant your wish but _just this once_."

Tasha smirked.

"Two of our cats, Kira and Carmina, are going to speak to Hidan, Carmen and their kits."

Tasha opened her mouth as if to speak, but Rifka already knew what she had to say and stopped her immediately.

"And, no, Tasha, you may _not _accompany Kira and Carmina. _NOT!_"

Tasha sighed and lowered her head in dismay but the rest of the cats knew better than to think she would let this go – most likely a visit to Rifka and sky would be occurring after the meeting with the entire Outsiders was finished.

"Of course only if, who was that…? Ahhh, yes, They will only speak to Hidan and Carmen and, yes, the kits HawkStar permits it."

Before Rifka could continue, Tasha found the time to speak.

"I'll make him!"

Rifka ignored Tasha's crude comment and dismissed it by saying:

"HawkStar is a she-cat."

Tasha lowered her head once again; all knew this wasn't the end of the matter.

"Now, the subject of discussion is quite obvious," Rifka glared at Tasha, "but perhaps only to some of us. If you cannot figure it out, too bad. And I would like this to not be the gossip around camp. All heard?"

Mutters of agreement and some shouts of excitement rose from the crowd.

"Dismissed!"

As presumed, Tasha went straight to the Leaders' den.

... …

"Lars and Copper weren't at the meeting, right?" Carmina asked Kira.

"Cor_rect_." Kira replied heartily.

"I'll tell Lars the news – can you tell Copper?"

"'Course." Was Kira's reply.

Tip patted by.

"Tip wasn't at the meeting either!" Kira realized.

Kira was about to call out to him, but she then realized that he was already gone, probably for a post-nap hunt.

"Rats." She spat humor fully.

"I'll tell him and Lars, 'K?"

"Alright." Kira responded bleakly, her mind obviously on another topic.

… …

"Why can't I go?" Tasha protested.

"You're -- "

"And I want a serious response. Why am I always the laughingstock? The 'humored one'? The one that's always treated like shit?! Always! _Always!_"

"That's one of the reasons," Sky told her, "You're disrespectful. A lot."

"So nobody ever takes me seriously!" Tasha retorted, groaning in agony because her leaders wouldn't – or couldn't – understand her thoughts and feelings. "Please? Just this once can I hold an important job? Just this once?"

"Please, tone it down you two. I'll bet all of ThunderClan can hear your yowls. Even over the howl of that fierce storm." Rifka, for the first time, stepped into the conversation.

The two had been so busy arguing, they had missed the start of the tempest. It was indeed a fierce storm, its calls resonating from the mountains in the distance,

Tasha scowled, but sky ignored the comment; though the next time he spoke he lowered his voice, but quickened the tempo of his whispers.

"Tasha, you are not going and that is final."

… …

"Hey Carmina!" Kira called over the howl of the wind, "Did'ja have fun hunting?"

Only a groan came from Carmina as she dropped a mouse by her sister's side.

"Thanks," Kira purred, "On another topic, did you ever consider another cat in the patrol to go see Hidan, Carmen and the kits? Rifka recommended it."

"No, as a matter of fact, I did not."

"Who do you think would be good?"

… …

"OK Tasha." Rifka surrendered.

"I can go?" Tasha's eyes widened as she asked eagerly.

"Yes." Rifka and Sky said in unison; Sky had, obviously, changed his point of view.

"I told Kira and Carmina they might need another in case, just in case, they met Rachel. You just might be the most perfect cat there is for that. As far as those things go that is." Rifka continued. "So you may go."

Tasha smiled widely. She would have smirked if her leaders had not been watching.

"Now go tell Kira and Carmen." Sky commanded.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4:**

"Carmina! Kira! I'm going with you to ThunderLand!"

Carmina blinked her weary eyes, and squinted as she turned her head away from the sun. It was Tasha speaking.

"No you're not." Kira beat her to saying it.

"Am too!" Tasha smiled proudly, holding her head high. "Ask Rifka and Sky. They told me I could."

"Go get them then." Kira retorted, not believing Tasha's tale.

"Alrighty then."

Tasha stalked off to the Leaders' cave.

_Wait! She's not supposed to do that! _Carmina thought in fury, her fur rising on the back of her neck. _But… She's only supposed to do that if she's actually telling the truth! Aurgh! That means that Tasha's coming to ThunderLand with us! That's horrible! This can't be good! She'll ruin the entire talk, and she'll probably spew out all out secrets while we're there! Hidan would never talk in front of Tasha, anyways. But Rifka did say that we might need another cat just in case we met Rachel… I thought we were going to get to pick! There must be some sense behind her decision, thought… _

All of these thoughts ran through Carmina's mind at one time, trying to push their way to the front. Some were allowed more time than others, and different tones would've accompanied different thoughts if she had spoken them aloud.

Sky and Rifka came padding out of the cave on Tasha's call.

Once they made it over to Carmina's and Kira's resting place, where they sat in shock, Rifka announced quietly:

"Yes, Tasha is going with you." Rifka nodded, "But she shall not speak to Hidan, Carmne and their kits, she'll wait outside the camp, preferably under the watch of a ThunderClan cat, if they can spare one. I would, too, have been shocked if I learned Tasha was going with me on an important mission. I understand that. Please do give her some respect though."

Tasha kicked some dirt when she heard 'I would, too, have been shocked if I learned Tasha was going with me on an important mission', but she smirked when she heard the last part.

"Alright," Kira said, nodding slowly, "We can certainly get a cat form ThunderClan to… supervise her while we talk to Hidan, Mona and the kits."

"Yep," Carmina replied as if Rifka were just assuring her that there was plenty of prey to go around.

"You set out now, since the storm has passed over," Rifka told them.

They all nodded, Tasha far more eagerly than the other two, and the trio set out to catch some prey before they stated their trek; all three had that thought in common.

Once the prey was caught, they proceeded to ThunderLand.

… …

"We wish to speak with HawkStar!" Kira called to SagePelt.

SagePelt was on a patrol near the border with four other cats. The three Outsiders were still on their side of the border, but Tasha was creeping towards the line.

"Sure, come on over," SagePelt called warmly; just in time, too, for Tasha would've leaped over and bounded to see HawkStar if she had waited a moment more.

Surprisingly, Tasha did not run over. Instead, however, she walked calmly over with the other two cats.

"Let's go guys!" SagePelt cried heartily, beaming.

The cats entered the camp, greeted by scowls of confusion.

"HawkStar," SagePelt said, peeking into the leader's den.

"Yes SagePelt," the three Outsiders heard the she-cat sigh, "What is it this time?"

"Three Outsiders --"

The white she-cat dipped her head out of the den and looked at the three cats expectantly.

Realizing what she meant, Carmina told her their names.

"Kira, Tasha and Carmina."

"Three Outsiders, Kira, Tasha and Carmina wish to speak with you."

"Alright," came the reply.

The cats heard HawkStar heave herself up.

_____________________________

"So it is to Hidan, Carmen and their kits you wish to speak with?" HawkStar queried.

"It is," Kira replied.

"And, if possible, could you spare a, uh…" Carmina racked her mind for the right word,

"A Warrior?" HawkStar guessed.

"Yes, that's it," Carmina nodded, "Is it possible that you could spare a Warrior to watch over Tasha while Kira and I speak to Hidan, Carmen and their kits?"

"Yes, of course that can be arranged." HawkStar confirmed. She looked to SagePelt and asked, "Could you watch over Tasha?"

"Sure!" SagePelt nodded vigorously.

"Oh, great Shadows!" Tasha muttered in contempt.

HawkStar turned around, as if to leave, but instead she called:

"Hidan, Carmen, there are some cats who ask of your company. Please have your kits attend, also!"

Carmina watched the silhouettes of the said cats moving about in the cave, coming to their leader's call.

"Carmen!" her sister's purred in unison as she padded up to them.

Close behind her was Hidan and the kit's who were bounding joyfully.

"Outsider's" Hidan said in a low growl. He was already a pure ThunderClan cat! He treated all non clan cats like a possible threat besides Rachel, which Carmina and Kira didn't know.

Kira and Carmina were taken aback by the massive transformation in the grey tom.

Was Carmen like this too? And their kit's?

"We, er need to speak with you…" Kira said hesitantly.

"We got that," Hidan said curtly his eyes were cold as they pierced through the Outsiders'.

"Did Rifka or Sky say anything specifically about what we were to tell them?" Carmina fretted as she searched her memory.

"We should have them say it themselves," Kira decided. "Yes, that's it, we…um…we were told to bring you back to the outsider camp so Rifka and Sky could speak to you themselves!" Kira announced.

"Why didn't they come?" Hidan snorted.

"They were too busy being the leader's of the Outsiders," she retorted.

"Fine" Carmen said stepping between her mate and sister's. "We shall tell HawkStar and then go."

…

"Your camp?" HawkStar asked suspiciously.

"Yes," Carmina said dipping her head to the ThunderClan leader.

"Alright, but I have a condition," she said.

"Anything," Carmina said quickly.

"SagePelt!" HawkStar called. The white warrior poked her head in, Tasha's right behind it.

"Yes?" she asked eagerly.

"Fetch SnakeScorch and GoldenCloud for me," her leader ordered.

SagePlet dipped her head then was out of sight followed by Tasha.

Two minutes late they were back.

SagePelt lead a handsome golden and ginger tom and a similar looking golden she-cat in along with Tasha. "This is SnakeScorch," she meowed waving her tail near the tom, "and GoldenCloud," she waved it by the she-cat.

The warriors looked questioningly at the Outsiders', then at Hidan, Carmen and the kits', then at their leader. "What would you like us to do?" the golden she-cat spoke up.

"You are to go with Hidan, Carmen and their kits to the Outsider's back to their camp" HawkStar said.

"Are they going back home?" a voice from the leader's den entrance asked.

"Don't be rude NightPool," GoldenCloud scolded him. "They are ThunderClan now." She smiled proudly at the former Outsider's as she spoke sending a ripple of worry through Carmina and Kira.

"Our leader's would like to speak with them," Kira rushed to explain.

"_Leaders'_?" the black tom huffed. "The Outsider's sure are odd." He received a cold glare from both of the golden cats for that remark, and Kira and Carmina stepped between him and Tasha.

"NightPool, make yourself useful and fetch me StoneGrip," his leader ordered. Silently he left the den to obey.

"Sorry about him" Carmen meowed sincerely.

"StoneGrip's coming?" SagePelt meowed happily.

"Who is he?" Kira asked Carmen. "He is our deputy," Hidan answered quickly before Carmen could.

"HawkStar?" a large grey tom asked as he made his way into the crowded den.

"I wish for you to go with GoldenCloud, SnakeScorch, and SagePelt. They are Taking Carmen Hidan and their kit's to speak with the Outsiders," she answered not mentioning that Carmina, Kira and Tasha had come to fetch her.

The large grey tom's head turned to the unnamed cats. "I am StoneGrip," he said bowing his head at the Outsiders'. "Who are you?"

"I'm Tasha!" she announced loudly earning her an ear cuff from Kira. Unexpectedly she didn't retaliate.

"I am Kira, and this is my sister Carmina, we are Carmen's sisters" Kira introduced as if reminding Carmen as well.

"Very well," the grey tom said.

"But HawkStar? Don't you think four warriors, not counting Hidan plus the Outsider's and Carmen and her kit's is a bit much?" SagePelt meowed.

"SnakeScorch I want you to stay and lead a patrol, but the rest of you: I want you to make sure nothing happens. Hidan left them for a reason and we want no bloodshed, especially of our new warrior." Hidan stared uneasily at the ground avoiding any curious eyes on him.

"You should get going now," HawkStar said.

StoneGrip nodded and lead the cats out of the ThunderClan camp.

…….

"ThunderClan!" Copper growled as he caught their scent along with Outsider's returning to the camp.

"They're with us," Kira said carefully as she lead the others into the Outsiders camp.

"We brought them back here for a bit so Rifka and Sky could speak to them themselves," she reasoned.

Rifka padded up to the big group of cats who had just entered the camp.

"You brought them here?" she asked, then seeing GoldenCloud, SagePelt and StoneGrip added; "and who are they?"

"This is StoneGrip," Carmina waved her tail by him, "and GoldenCloud and…"

"SagePelt," she introduced herself. "We've met before."

"What are they doing here?" she asked Carmen and Kira.

"HawkStar sent them!" Tasha announced. "She said there would be bloodshed,"

Carmina and Carmen cuffed both of her ears with barely sheathed paws.

"She said there _wouldn't_ be," Carmina hissed. "She wanted the others to come with them, it's a long walk the kit's would get tired and there's only two of their parents."

She wasn't sure if this was true, but it was better than upsetting Rifka.

"So then Sky and I will tell them ourselves," she said.

"Stay here, I'll be right back," Rifka padded off.

She was back a few minutes later with Sky, who motioned for Carmen, Hidan and the kits to follow them.

...

"What have you to tell us?" Carmen asked plainly.

"We wanted you to know," Sky said. "That we have no longer any plans to attack ThunderClan."

Hidan looked suspicions. "Oh _really_?" he asked.

Sky nodded.

"Then we should go home," Hidan said plainly.

"Have you told them?" Rifka asked.

"No one told ThunderClan anything about your "plan"," Hidan growled and walked out of the leader's den, Carmen close behind.

…

"Let's go home," Hidan barked to his clan mates' as he and Carmen walked up to the group.

GoldenCloud picked up Juni, and waited for her clan mates to follow.

Soon Willow and Chloie were picked up and the ThunderClan cats advanced towards their border.

"Let us walk you to the border," Carmina offered.

She padded quickly after them.

"I don't think I believe Sky," Hidan whispered to his mate.

"He wouldn't go back on his word would he?" Carmen fretted.

"Remember what was said about Queens when Rifka and Sky first brought up new land?"

"Yes," she meowed softly.

"That even queens might fight," he responded loud enough for her sister's to hear.

...

"Why did you bring them here?" Sky demanded of Kira and Carmina.

"I wanted you to tell them yourselves," Kira piped.

"We weren't sure exactly what you wanted to tell them and we didn't wish to scramble your orders," Carmina meowed smoothly.

"Very well," Rifka meowed. "Now they will have no idea what's coming for them…"

…..

Rays of Morning sun poured into the Outsider camp awaking Sky.

"Rifka, wake up I need to speak with you about something," the big white tom meowed prodding Rifka gently in the side.

"What is it Sky?" she asked tiredly, her eyes not yet open.

"We should send more cats to scout Thunder-Land today," Sky advised.

Rifka just nodded and rolled onto her side.

…

"Tide, Lars, Copper, Kira, Kisa, Sakura, Blue," Sky meowed. Each dipped their heads as their names were called. "Good, are we all ready?"

A chorus of yes's came from his followers. "Alright, now keep down wind, and when you get to the Thunder-Land border, make sure to cover your scent, maybe with their type of prey or Thunder-Scent."

…

Sky caught a large bird just over the TunderClan border.

"Isn't it against the rules to take prey that isn't yours?" Kira meowed to Lars. He didn't say anything but gave a stiff nod.

"It isn't breaking rules…" Sky meowed. "Isn't that right? It has Outsider scent all over it." The others didn't question him, but they cast each other curious glances, which were replied to with an uncertain reply of some sort.

"Hurry get back onto this side of the border!" Sakura called as a group of ThunderClan cats came into view.

"Outsiders!" a grey-blue tom called rushing at them only to be blocked by a pretty brown she-cat with tortoiseshell markings.

"Stop it, don't attack until we know what they want," she warned him. "Outsiders!" her strong voice called. "Tell us what you want and hurry it up," she meowed as the patrol began to advance towards the border.

"We hear that there are rumors of Outsiders being threats to ThunderClan," Sky meowed.

"and we brought you this bird as a peace offering…to show we mean you no harm…"

"It's a ThunderClan bird," the she-cat growled.

"It is an Outsider's bird," Sky meowed surely.

"BrindleSight is right," a new voice growled. A white she-cat with grey stripes stepped forward.

"It was caught either on our land or on the border, which means you caught it after you came…and you didn't come to bring us this offering which you had no right to hunt in the first place…"

"How true SnowSky," the ThunderClan tom smirked.

"It is Outsider caught," Sky meowed again.

"You Outsider got caught," the tom growled. "Now get off of our land…" he swiped at Sky's single paw over the border.

"We wish for no harm to come to any of us, so we will leave…how did you happen to be here when we were?" he meowed.

"We have regular patrols, morning throughout the day and night…" the white and grey cat meowed coldly. "Now go home,"

Without another word Sky nodded, left the bird and lead his cats home.


End file.
